Author's Note: This chapter took quite a bit of research as, unfortunately, I have no idea what the rules of poker are. I'm sure that I got things egregiously wrong, so feel free to call me out on it if I did. I'm always happy to correct it later. Anyways, thank you for the reviews and please continue to let me know what you think!

By the time Remus and Mr. Potter had arrived back at the Potters', the sun had already begun to cast a golden glow across the estate, illuminating everything as if had been entirely cast in bronze. The days were starting to get shorter as September inched closer and closer and, despite the high heat during the day, Remus had started to notice a distinct chill in the air at night. He was looking forward to autumn – heavy woollen sweaters, the briskness of the morning air and the crunch of leaves underfoot.

As he approached the house, Remus spotted James and Sirius high up on the grey stone fence that lined the property's perimeter. James was sitting with his feet dangling over the edge, a glass of lemonade clutched in his hand while Sirius was wandering along, placing one foot carefully in front of the other, as if he were walking a tight rope.

Remus sighed. He knew that he couldn't convince Sirius that he would fall and break his neck no matter what he said. Sirius was fiery and alive like the feverish heat of summer; everything Sirius did was with passion and conviction. He ran on instinct and impulse, jumping from thrill to thrill without pause. Remus had never truly noticed how much he looked out for Sirius, how he carefully watched over Sirius' flame so that it didn't burn out. As much as Sirius would never admit it, he didn't know how to take care of himself; he had never learned how to channel his own fire. It fell so often to Remus to pick up his own ashes and start over again that it felt almost second-nature to him now. And so, when he looked up and saw Sirius doing exactly what he always did - behaving with little to no regard for self-preservation - Remus stopped himself before he called up for them to get down. After what he had overheard Sirius and James talking about this morning, Remus was starting to question whether Sirius had ever truly appreciated just how much effort he had put into keeping him, into keeping all of them, alive, sane and grounded.

"Remus! How's dear Mrs. Lupin?" James asked, leaning over the edge.

"What? Oh, Fine, just fine. I ran into Evans." Remus said, shielding his eyes against the sun.

Sirius made a quick about-face high above him that Remus chose to carefully ignore.

He can take care of himself, Remus thought, his jaw clenched.

"Did you?" James asked. "Where did you meet your Mum that you ran into her?"

"The Leaky Cauldron." Remus said.

"Odd." James said, turning to look over at Sirius. "Are you going to quit the acrobatics yet, or what?"

"I might." Sirius said casually, making his way back over towards James.

"You're going to give Remus a heart attack." James said, chuckling.

Remus raised his eyebrows. James was right, but the last thing he wanted to do was push Sirius into getting angry about him being overprotective again.

"Fine." Sirius sighed, sitting down sharply, grabbing the edge of the fence and repelling down to the ground as if it were nothing.

"You're going to kill yourself one day." James said, moving much more carefully than Sirius to the edge of the fence to jump down.

"How is Evans?" Sirius asked, walking over and slinging his arm around Remus' shoulders.

The anger Remus felt towards Sirius melted away instantly at his touch. He was still hurt by what Sirius had said this morning, and by all rights he knew he should show he was angry, but he simply could not resist the way Sirius' hand was resting on his arm. The tension released from Remus' shoulders as he leaned into Sirius' one-armed hug.

"She was great. We chatted for a little bit. She seems to be doing quite well." Remus said, watching as James struggled to get down from the fence.

"Sounds absolutely fascinating." Sirius laughed, shaking his long black hair away from his eyes. He removed his arm from Remus' shoulders and crossed them as he watched James struggle.

Remus chuckled. Trying to find words was always a struggle when Sirius was so close.

"So did you two talk about me?" James asked, finally hitting the ground. He wiped his hands off on his jeans and came over towards his two friends.

"We did. In fact, she asked if we wanted to meet up with her and go with her to Diagon Alley in a week?" Remus said.

"Us?" James asked, motioning to everyone and then back to Remus. "Or you?"

"Well, she asked me, but I assumed that the invitation extended to all of us..." Remus said, trailing off as he detected the well-hidden, yet certainly present, note of hostility in James' voice. "She asked about you two, actually, so I figured that the invitation was all-encompassing...?"

James relaxed slightly and clapped Remus on the shoulder, "Alright, then. Well, you send the old girl an owl and arrange it."

"You know, you're not helping your cause by calling her an 'old girl'." Remus said, his eyebrow raised as the three of them moved towards the house.

"I don't need any help. My cause is very successful, I'll have you know. Far more successful than yours." James said playfully, nudging Remus in the arm.

"My cause has taste and standards, James. I don't just go running after everyone who smiles at me." Remus grinned, nudging James back.

"Are you implying that I have no standards?" James asked in mock-shock.

"I think he might be." Sirius grinned.

Remus, Sirius and James sat down to dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Potter in the main dining room. The house elves had outdone themselves tonight and the table was laden with soup tureens full of leek and potato soup, platters of thick-cut roast beef and heavy, crusty loaves of bread. Remus had come from a family of very little means and before he had attended Hogwarts, he had rarely ever had the chance to eat so lavishly. Food was a small passion of Remus', especially dessert. He found that even when the world seemed to be falling apart, food was a way to calm him and centre him on the moment. The very smell of the food was enough to set his taste buds watering and when they sat down to eat, there was little conversation to be had.

"I thought we could head out to the fields tonight." James suggested. "I've got an old clubhouse out there somewhere. I wonder if we could find it again."

"I would be surprised if you could even fit in there anymore, James." Mr. Potter laughed. "I built that for you before you left for Hogwarts."

"We can dream." James grinned. "Plus, it's an excuse to take Sirius and James out on the brooms."

Remus rolled his eyes.

"I suppose it is." Mr. Potter smiled. "Be careful, though, we've been having a bit of a pest problem in the outer fields where James' old clubhouse is. I think it may be badgers hiding out in the trees."

"We'll be sure to keep an eye out. Badgers shouldn't pose too much of an issue for us." Remus said with a smile.

"Let's go then!" Sirius smiled. "Any opportunity to get on a broom!"

Remus couldn't help but feel guilty as Sirius and James leaped to their feet to get their brooms. He didn't want to leave his hosts behind so abruptly, even if he knew the house elves would be along to help with the washing up.

"Thank you very much for the meal." Remus managed to say before Sirius dragged him away.

Twilight had fallen during dinner and James and Sirius had little light to work from as they rummaged around in the old shed behind the house. Crickets had started to hum merrily from the tall grass in the garden and the night air had started to cool slightly. Remus leaned against the shed and closed his eyes, enjoying the pleasantly warm breeze.

"Got 'em!" James yelled out, emerging from the back of the shed, coated from head to toe in dust and cobwebs. He was carrying three broom-mountable lanterns. "Shall we go, then?"

The brooms were still lying against the other side of the shed from when they had played Quidditch together the other afternoon and James got quickly to work mounting the lanterns onto them. Sirius had already mounted his and was scooting around the back of the garden, slowly ramping up his speed with every lap.

"He's going to fly into the fence and it's going to be so funny." Remus said, watching as Sirius gained speed and narrowly avoided hitting the mermaid fountain.

"Five galleons on falling into the fountain." James said, handing Remus a broom and mounting his own.

"I change my mind - Five galleons on hitting a tree." Remus said, trying to remain light-hearted even though he knew Sirius was probably going to hurt himself.

James and Remus hovered for a moment until finally, Sirius flew up and over the fence in what was supposed to be a grand demonstration of his flight prowess, when he instead hit the ground on the other side with a dull thud.

"Ah, neither of us won." James said sadly, listening as Sirius swore loudly to himself. "Let's go."

After dusting himself off, Sirius got back on his broom and joined the other two as they skimmed across the fields, staying low to the ground. The night air was chilly, but refreshing, and Remus felt completely at ease as he looked from James to Sirius next to him. Something about this felt so right, as if nothing should ever change.

"James, do you know where we're going?" Sirius asked after several minutes of flight. The Potters' house was almost a mile behind them and they were nearly at the treeline marking the edge of the estate. The fields here were lush and green, though here and there were yellow burn marks brought on by the bright August sun.

"No! It's right over here, I'm sure of it..." James said, leading Sirius and Remus up along the tree line.

"How do you forget where your childhood clubhouse is...?" Remus asked Sirius as they flew along behind James.

"A few too many bludgers to the head, I'd wager." Sirius grinned.

"I heard that!" James called from ahead. He flew on for a minute or so more before coming to a sudden halt and jumping off his broom. "Found it."

James dismounted and began searching the treeline.

"Are you sure?" Remus asked cautiously. Night had fully fallen now and only the light of the moon and the light from their lanterns were guiding them.

"I'm sure." James said, carrying his broom over his shoulder and walking forwards into the trees. "There should be a..."

James swept aside several branches and uncovered a very large wooden shack tucked away underneath.

"Wicked." Sirius grinned, following James into the shack, "I feel like I'm ten again."

Remus followed, and was surprised to find that the inside was even larger than the outside. Time had not treated the place well, but it was evident that the person who built it put quite a bit of care into it. The small shack was built entirely out of solid wood planks and the floor, though slightly dirty now, had also been constructed out of hardwood. The walls were plastered with Quidditch posters, old advertisements for broomsticks and even one or two posters for various types of butterbeer. While the place had been emptied out, it was clear that James had spent quite a bit of time here as a child.

"This used to be my favourite hang out." James said proudly, walking around the room and lighting the lanterns that were hanging from the wall. "Dad built it for me a couple years before I went away to Hogwarts."

"This is awesome." Sirius grinned. "I wish my parents had let Reg and I have a clubhouse."

Remus felt an odd twinge of jealousy as he looked around the room. It was clear that James' parents loved him quite a lot and had spared no expense in keeping him happy. Remus hadn't had anything like this as a child and he was rarely allowed to go over to friends' houses who had clubhouses like these. Werewolves were hardly a parent's dream friend for their child.

"This is really cool." Remus said lamely, sitting down on the floor and bringing his legs close into his body.

Sirius collapsed down onto the floor across from him. "Need a bit of a sweep in here, Prongs."

"Yeah, I haven't been in here in years." James said, inspecting a poster he had put up long ago of a supermodel. "What is this poster? I was ten last time I was in here. What was I doing with supermodels?"

"Your rise to pathetic skirt-chaser began here." Sirius laughed. "The busty supermodel foretold it."

James whacked Sirius on the back of the head before grabbing a lantern. He set it down on the floor and sat around it, forming a circle with Remus and Sirius.

"We've only got two weeks left before we go back to Hogwarts." James said. "And it's going to be our last."

Remus looked up, surprised at the melancholic tone in James' voice.

"Let's make it our best." Remus said, smiling. "Besides, we've got so much to look forward to after!"

"Yeah, I can't wait to get out of Hogwarts." Sirius said, kicking his legs out in front of him.

"Really?" Remus asked, picking at a rip in his jeans. "We've been there almost our whole lives. I'm kind of scared to move on."

"I'm not hung up on it." Sirius shrugged. "As soon as I hit the age of majority, I'm getting a motorcycle and driving off into the sunset."

"You are not getting a motorcycle." Remus laughed.

"I am! I have my eye on one, actually." Sirius said. "I'll take you with me, if you want. Into the sunset."

Remus felt his face going red.

Stop it, Remus thought, willing himself to say something back to Sirius.

"You can drop me off at a library on your way to the sunset." Remus laughed.

"Good deal." Sirius smiled.

They laughed together for a minute before falling silent.

"Cards?" James asked finally, fishing around in his pockets.

"Why not?" Sirius shrugged. "Maybe we'll finally beat Remus' poker face."

Remus smiled knowingly. It was a well-known fact in the Gryffindor towers that Remus was an undefeated poker champion. Nobody had ever been able to successfully see through his bluff. He was a force to be reckoned with and had amassed a small fortune in winnings over the years.

"Merlin's Hold 'Em or 7-card stud?" Remus asked, reaching for the deck and beginning to shuffle the cards.

The moonlight began to pour into the clubhouse from the open window as the night grew darker. Cards passed from hand to hand and the night's winnings began to pour into Remus' hand. Sirius had won one round, but Remus had made sure not to let it happen again. The boys each sat intensely focused on their hands just as they heard a twig snap outside.

James looked up from his cards. "What was that?"

Sirius shrugged. "Probably a squirrel, Prongs. Don't try to distract us, I know what you're playing at."

"I'm not playing at any-"

Everyone fell silent as they heard the rustle of leaves somewhere outside the walls. Remus shifted ever so slightly closer to Sirius.

"We get badgers around here sometimes." James said, his voice slightly softer than before. "You know what Dad said."

"Right." Sirius said, clearing his throat. "Let's get back into the game."

"Fold." James said irritably, tossing his hand onto the ground.

"Ha!" Sirius said, tossing his hand down on the ground. "Remus, you bastard, I know you're lying."

Remus' face didn't change at all. He looked from the hand of cards on the ground up to Sirius. With a small smile, he laid out his cards.

"Are you... Are you kidding me?! Flush!" Sirius gasped, tossing his head back.

Remus grinned and raked the galleons towards him. "Another hand, friends...?"

Remus trailed off as he heard soft footsteps coming from outside. James drew his wand slowly and Remus inched closer to Sirius.

"Did you see that?" James asked, his head snapping quickly to the window where a dark silhouette passed by so quickly it almost hadn't been there at all.

"That's not a badger." Remus whispered. He reached instinctively for his wand, but willed himself not to use it. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin his chances at a good future because of the use of underage magic.

Sirius pressed his finger to his lips and slowly got into a crouching position to stand up. Remus shook his head furiously and grabbed Sirius by the arm.

"Just let it go by us but stay on guard." Remus said, fighting to keep his voice steady.

The windows began rattling and all around them a high wind picked up. Remus' breath was coming fast and short and he could hear Sirius breathing next to him. In that moment, Remus wanted nothing more than to grab Sirius' hand.

Sirius looked as if he were on the verge of running for it as all the windows in the clubhouse shot open with a bang. Sirius got quickly to his feet and pulled Remus up next to him. He motioned for James to come closer. The three of them stood back-to-back, wands drawn, and waited.

"Quiet, mates." James said, the tremor in his voice betraying his attempt at courage.

Before they had a chance to do anything, a high wind rushed through the clubhouse, ripping several of the posters of the wall and extinguishing the lantern lights. It was dead quiet and all Remus could hear was the steady pounding of his own heart. He could feel James' arm pressed up against his and Sirius' back against his own. He was terrified, but resolute.

In a flash of bright light, the door to the cabin burst open. Remus felt someone's arms wrap around him and wrench him out of the way. Together, they whirled around so that he was facing away from the door.

Sirius, Remus thought, feeling the arms tighten around him and Sirius' face nestled into the back of his neck.

"Dad?!" James yelled suddenly.

Remus looked up, his knees just about to give way.

"You lot sure are easy to scare!" Mr. Potter grinned, pulling the hood down from over his face.

As quickly as Sirius had grabbed Remus, he let go and swung around. Catching sight of the wild look on Sirius' face, Remus was terrified for a moment that his friend was about to go to Azkaban for killing Charlus Potter.

"What in the world..." Sirius gasped, clutching at his heart.

"Sirius..." Remus said, a tone of warning in his voice. Remus could still hear his heart pounding in his ears, but the instant flood of relief at seeing that the menace was Charlus and not an evil force of the night was almost narcotic in its release.

Sirius finally dropped his wand, tossed his head back and roared with laughter. James joined in after a moment and when Remus finally found his voice, he couldn't help but laugh, too. With all the trouble they had gotten into over the years, they had been the most scared by James' own father. The thought really was hilarious.

It hadn't escaped Remus, however, that Sirius had grabbed him and pulled him out of the range of danger when things had been at their most intense. His body was still tingling where Sirius' arms had been. Even after the laughter amongst them had died down, Remus had a smile affixed to his face that he simply couldn't remove.

"What in Merlin's Beard made you think that coming out here to scare the living daylights out of us was a good idea?" James asked as they flew altogether on their brooms back to the Potters' house.

"Where do you think you came by such pranking prowess?" Mr. Potter asked, his blue eyes twinkling as he smiled. " I may be quiet, but back in my day I got into so much trouble with Armando Dippet that I was on cauldron detail in the dungeons for a month straight."

"What did you do?" Sirius asked, leaning in close to Charlus, his voice full of admiration.

"It's a wonderful story, actually. Our old history teacher, Professor Binns, was a bit of a bore. He would drone on and on and on - "

"Dad, we still have him." James laughed.

"How is that even possible? When I was at school over twenty-five years ago Professor Binns was well into his hundreds." Mr. Potter said, a puzzled look on his face.

"He's a ghost now, believe it or not." Remus piped in. "Still teaching, I might add."

"Amazing..." Mr. Potter said, shaking his head. "Anyways. Binns was a bit of a bore. He never noticed anything that happened amongst us so finally, I had the bright idea to begin moving our desks closer to the board every couple seconds. We had made our way all the way to the front of the room and were all crushed together like sardines before old Binns even realized Hannah Leonard's desk was pressed up against his legs!"

The four of them laughed so hard Remus nearly fell off his broom.

"So how did that land you with a month's worth of detention if he didn't notice?" Sirius asked finally, wiping a tear away from his eye.

"We had been doing the same trick for months!" Mr. Potter exclaimed before collapsing into a fit of laughter once again.

By the time the four had landed in the Potters' garden, it was well past midnight. The moon was low in the sky and the shadows were lengthening. Sirius and James had left to go tuck their brooms away in the shed and Remus and Mr. Potter were left standing together on the back porch.

"Are you glad to be back, Remus?" Mr. Potter asked. "Your afternoon went well."

Remus noted that the last statement was phrased more of a statement than as a question. "How do you know?"

"Only an owl came for you not an hour after we arrived back here." Mr. Potter said, smiling knowingly.

Remus perked up slightly. "From whom?"

"One Lily Evans." Mr. Potter replied. "Not that I read the address or name or anything."

Remus chuckled. "I'm glad she wrote me so quickly. She and I are organizing a meeting in Diagon Alley for next week."

"Good show!" Mr. Potter said, clapping Remus on the shoulder. "Good night then, boys."

"'Night." James, Sirius and Remus said in unison as the two boys came up behind them.

"Last one upstairs gets to sleep on the floor." James exclaimed, pushing past Sirius and Remus and running up the stairs.

Sirius and Remus both hit the floor running, nearly knocking over a house elf dusting in the living room. By the time they had made it upstairs to James' room, they were all fighting to cram themselves through the doorway, three at a time.

They collapsed on the floor inside the room and James closed the door, laughing.

"Guess we're all sleeping on the floor." James chuckled, breathing heavily.

Sirius shook his head and got to his feet. "Absolutely not. I'm sleeping right here."

Sirius walked over to his bed and noticed a small envelope on his pillow. "To Remus Lupin from... Lily Evans!"

Remus leaped to his feet and snatched at the letter in Sirius' hands.

"Feisty." Sirius said, glancing over at James with a puzzled, mischievous expression on his face.

Remus tore open the letter.

Dear Remus,

I enjoyed our time together so much today. I didn't think I would ever find someone at Hogwarts who wanted to talk with me for so long on muggle literature! As soon as I got home I went straight to the library and picked up "To Kill a Mockingbird". I can't believe I had never heard of it. Thank you so much for telling me about it.

So I thought it would be nice if you and I met up at Florean Fortescue's next Wednesday at noon if you can make it? I know a nice cafe that plays old jazz records if you'd like to have dinner afterwards? I know you're visiting with Potter, but I'm sure he and Black can find something else to do during that time?

Write back soon,

Lily.

Remus swallowed hard and looked up slowly from the letter. Remus felt suddenly as if the bottom had dropped out of his stomach.

Quickly, he folded the letter up and stuffed it down the front of his robes. The last thing he wanted was for James or Sirius to see it before he could write her and clear up the mistake.

"And what is this all about?" James asked, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.

"Get him." Sirius said with an evil smile.

Before Remus could fight back, Sirius had pinned Remus to the ground, straddling him with his hands pinned over his head. James reached into Remus' shirt despite his vehement protests and produced the letter in his clenched fist.

"James! Don't!"

Remus waited as James read it, his eyes flying back and forth across the page. Remus watched with dread as James' bright smile slowly faded the further he read.

"Where were you this afternoon?" James asked darkly.

"What does it say?" Sirius asked, still astride Remus.

"Where were you?" James asked again, looking down at Remus.

"Look, I didn't mean to run into Lily..."

"Where were you?"

"I went to Flourish and Blott's to read. I needed... I needed some time to myself." Remus admitted.

Sirius slowly climbed off of Remus. "So you weren't with your Mum?"

"No. I knew you guys would make a big deal out of it if I told you I just wanted to be alone for the afternoon." Remus said quietly, getting to his feet.

"So instead you went and spent the afternoon with Lily." James said.

"I didn't mean to spend the afternoon with her. I found her in the bookstore and we spent some time together chatting. I even told you I saw her earlier." Remus explained.

"You said you chatted with her for a bit. How long is a bit?" James asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Two or three hours." Remus admitted, wincing slightly as he saw the colour starting to rise in James' cheeks.

James was a cheerful and friendly person, but he also had a terrible temper, especially when it came to girls. The last thing Remus had wanted James to do was to read that letter.

"I didn't mean to lead her on! I know you're into her." Remus said quickly.

"You think I'm that shallow?" James asked, his eyes flashing.

"Yes." Sirius said quietly, unable to contain himself.

James shot daggers at Sirius which shut him up. "You lied to us about going to see your Mum. You instead went and spent the entire afternoon with my girlfriend and continued to lie to us. Why lie about how much time you spent with her unless you meant something by it? You weren't going to let us read that letter for a reason. "

"First of all, James, I lied because I knew you would act like this. You always act like this when I just want to be alone. Second of all, she is not your girlfriend and you are way too over-possessive of people. Third of all, I didn't want you to read that letter because I knew you would overreact and wouldn't let me explain! This is all a huge misunderstanding." Remus exclaimed, colour starting to rise in his face.

"You lied." James said, his jaw tensing.

"I'm sorry, James! I didn't mean to make you angry! I didn't know it would matter this much." Remus said, clenching his fists.

"All I ask is loyalty. I invite you here to stay at my house. I include you in our plans to rescue Sirius. And this is how you repay me? With lying?" James asked.

"I lied because I heard you two talking about me this morning!" Remus yelled, his fists clenched so tightly he could feel his fingernails digging into his palms. He could feel all the anger and all the tension that had been building up inside him over the past couple days explode inside him. "I lied because I wanted to be away from you ungrateful bastards!"

Remus turned on his heel to face Sirius. "I patched you up and looked after you for the past couple days and you go off and complain to James about how I'm babying you and you don't need it?"

Sirius shrunk slightly on his bed.

"And you want to argue loyalty when all you do is jump from one girl to the next? Can't you be happy that someone has shown interest in me, however wrongly-founded it is?" Remus yelled.

James swallowed hard and backed down slightly.

"You two don't have to worry. You're big boys now that clearly don't need me meddling in your affairs anymore!" Remus said, wrenching the door open and slamming it so hard as he stormed out into the hallway the windows rang.